The Left-wing rabble-rouser who became the Queen Mother's authorised biographer

The Queen Mother's authorised biographer, William Shawcross, 63, is
fretting over how his first volume of Queen Elizabeth's life, due out
next week, will be received.

Coincidentally, the subject of an earlier Shawcross work -
Sideshow, his 1979 volume about the destruction of Cambodia - is
highly topical but, strangely, out of print.

In it, he accuses then U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who
is still with us, of being a war criminal for authorising the bombing
of Cambodia, ushering in the genocidal rule of Pol Pot and the Khmer
Rouge, some of whom are now on trial.

The Queen Mother's biographer William Shawcross is fretting over how his first volume will be received

He later apologised to HK. Old Etonian Shawcross has gone from being
a Left-wing rabble-rouser to a royal biographer and Right-wing
apologist for George W Bush.

* * *

Former British envoy to Washington Sir Oliver Wright, who has died aged 88, was a jovial, Shakespeare-quoting old-school diplomat who, when asked by his successor if he had any tips to pass on, is said to have replied: 'Always make sure the shower curtain is inside the stall.'

Convening a 1980s meeting of DCbased UK journalists to explain the nightmarish nuclear arms control negotiations, affable Sir Oliver described it as 'a matter of getting the cows off the ice'. A rude, well-refreshed Financial Times correspondent got up and asked: 'Why are we here?'

* * *

So how rich is Terry Wogan, 71, who is retiring from Radio 2?

Not as wealthy as his successor, Chris Evans, 43, whose fortune is estimated at around £45million.

Some of Wogan's estimated £25million fortune emanated from a controversial source - the tax-deductible, 1980s planting in the Scottish Highlands of fast-growing conifer - spruce, sitka and pine, all alien to the local landscape, which remain an eyesore today.

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EPHRAIM HARDCASTLE: The Left-wing rabble-rouser who became the Queen Mother's authorised biographer